Thank you for your input. Here’s the new blurb on the comic’s About page:

In recent years, tensions have begun to grow between Midgard, the leading nation since the two devastating wars at the end of the First Age, and Cania, the home country of Ilias Oter and his friends. Ilias, though, finds politics to be not nearly as interesting as his classmate Lilith Caillean, a beautiful and amazingly talented young wizard. There is just something magical about her… As the students of the “Academy for Arcane Studies and Material Arts” face the first serious test in their life, the final exams, they suddenly find themselves wrapped up in a web of intrigue and magic that could break their world’s already-fragile core. Now it’s up to Ilias and his friends to save what is most precious to them before time runs out. But is giving your “best” even enough when you have to deal with forces that seem to be able to move kings like pawns on a chess board?

Gaia, a story about the nature of reality, and the answer to Lilith’s simple, meek, world-shattering question: “Will you come along?”

I’m not particularly happy with the summary of the comic’s content on the About page, which is also used on other websites. While the text shouldn’t be too touting, it could do a better job of arousing interest in new readers. It also lays too much emphasis on the first chapter in its current state:

Gaia is a fantasy comic about the odyssey of Ilias Oter and his friends in the self-created world of Gaia. Ilias is a student at the “Academy for Arcane Studies and Material Arts” which is located close to the capital city of Cania. In recent years, tension has grown between Cania and Midgard, the leading nation since the two big wars at the end of the First Age. Ilias, though, is much more interested in his classmate, the beautiful and talented wizard Lilith Caillean, than in politics. There is just something magical about her… At the beginning of the story, Ilias and the other students face the first serious test in their life, the final exams of the Academy.

I tried to rewrite it, but without much success. I’m just not good at writing blurbs. Maybe some of you could make a few suggestions for a better one.

You should not miss to watch the following seven amazing animated shorts by the artist Cerberus (Tirrel). Four of them even features raccoons. With a left click, the SWF flash files open in a new browser tab. With a right click, you can download the SWF files.

“Deep in the jungles of… Hyde Park London, the squirrels discover the sinister truth behind their poor harvest. Vyle Bakeries Ltd have devised a cost-cutting scheme to obtain ingredients for their Cookie range and are stealing nuts right from the rodent’s own stash piles.

Faced with the prospect of either starving or having to pay extortionate prices for Starbucks cookies, the squirrels join forces and tackle the problem at the source… in an inexplicable and highly implausible way.”

Rescuing Ghosts is without a doubt one of the most beautiful shorts I’ve ever seen. The evocation is accompanied by the song “Talking with Ghosts” by Fox Amoore.

“This is the story of Katan, a little aztec critter who works as a stonemason on huge pyramid projects. He’s an eager, talented employee who beleives strongly in what the project stands for, putting in endless overtime to get things done.

When a less committed, self-serving employee hatches a plan to steal the soul jewel of the temple, the mysterious crystal skull, Katan finds himself under blame and attack from the very monument he helped to create.”

Katan won the award “Best movie of 2010” on Newgrounds!

Raccoons doing what they do best ;-).

The first music video of the rock band Rockoons, featuring the song “Fever” by Aerosmith.

The second music video of the rock band Rockoons, featuring the song “Separate Ways” by Journey. There are a couple of really cool scenes you just have to see several times.

The third music video of the rock band Rockoons, featuring the song “Let Your Love Flow” by The Bellamy Brothers. The Looney Tunes would be proud of the amount of cartoon violence.

Ozy and Millie by D.C. Simpson, a comic strip featuring the serene young fox Ozy and his hyperactive best friend Millie, drew me into the world of webcomics in 2005. Simpson’s much anticipated graphic novel Rain Dog became the biggest letdown in the history of webcomics, though. It received several extremely negative reviews and got even mocked by the former fans of Ozy and Millie.

But now Simpson is back with the all-ages comic strip Heavenly Nostrils (start reading here). The first strip was published on 22 April 2012 and since the comic updates seven times a week, there are now already over 300 strips. The two main characters are the the chaotic nine-year-old girl Phoebe and her best friend, the unicorn Marigold Heavenly Nostrils who is regularly stunned by her own beauty and awesomeness. I think it’s easiest to describe Heavenly Nostrils as “Calvin and Hobbes for girls”, but I mean that in a good way. I think the strongest point of the comic is Phoebe who is immediately likeable. Her character design was clearly inspired by Millie, so all Ozy and Millie fans should get their money’s time’s worth. I’m also very fond of the black-and-white artwork, especially the funny facial expressions.